Beijing air pollution soars off index as dust storm brews in west
Updated: Severe haze is expected to be compounded by a dust storm brewing in northern China, which has already affected parts of Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Hebei.
Beijing air pollution levels soared off the charts on Thursday morning for the second time this week, as a wave of heavy smog engulfed the city.
The US embassy air quality monitor for PM2.5 – airborne particles small enough to enter the lungs and blood – reached levels “beyond index” and hit 502 micrograms per cubic metre at about 6am. The index goes up to only 500.
As of 9.45am on Thursday, PM2.5 levels were still at a hazardous 469 at a 24-hour exposure at this level. The World Health Organisation recommends PM2.5 levels be kept below 25.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection in Beijing recorded a PM2.5 level of 416, a level considered “severely polluted”.
Beijing authorities issued a yellow haze warning on Wednesday.
Frustrated Beijing citizens were not particularly shocked to hear how bad the pollution readings were after experiencing nearly two months of chronic bad air.
"Just another day in Beijing," a disgruntled netizen tweeted on Thursday.
On Sina Weibo, a few users questioned the sudden spike in PM2.5 levels on Wednesday. From just a moderate level of 75 in the afternoon, it shot up to the 200-300 level by evening.
"Thick air, can't see, no wind...this is what I woke up to today," one microblogger said.
Other mainland cities experiencing high air pollution readings included Baoding and Shijiazhuang in neighbouring Hebei province, as well as Huhhot in Inner Mongolia. All had PM2.5 readings of 500.
